Years ago I worked in a small business whose proprietor took his employees
to Atlantic City, New Jersey for an annual day of gambling and eating.
At the casino restaurant, I ordered mussels. When they arrived, the
presentation was very appetizing. The mussels were abundant, and they were
heaped in a bowl with a richly wine scented hot broth flecked with parsley
and saffron styles.
They were delicious. Out of curiosity, I decided to try tasting one of the
saffron styles. I anticipated a disagreeably strong taste, but to my
surprise there was little taste but that which the broth itself imparted.
Why? Because the "saffron styles" where cleverly crafted of bright
orange-red plastic!
The adulteration of saffron had entered the age of plastics!
Jim McKenney
Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, USDA zone 7, where I generally have
fantastic, delightful (as in running through or floating over fields of
colorful, fragrant wildflowers delightful) dreams after a meal which
contains genuine saffron.